Queue forms at 5am for new NHS dental places
BBCPeople desperate for NHS dental treatment queued from the early hours on Saturday to sign up for new spaces at a surgery.
St Pauls Dental Practice in Bristol had announced it would accept NHS patient registrations between the hours of 10:00 BST and 15:00 BST on a first come, first served basis.
Holly Davies, first in a queue of about 30, arrived at 05:00 BST, saying: "I can't afford to pay private and so it just became impossible and I got more worried about my own health. It's been a relief to be able to come here and sign on today."
Shivani Bhandari, operations director, said the practice was able to see people "who have not seen a dentist in a long time".
The dentist surgery was the site of an infamous queue for NHS places in 2024.
But this time there were plenty of spaces for those waiting in line – Bhandari said the practice was accepting 1,500 new patients.
The high number of free spots didn't stop Bristolians from queuing in the early hours, however.
When Davies arrived at 05:00 BST, she said a nearby pub had only just closed with party-goers spilling out onto the streets.
She was eventually joined by others who, like her, had faced long waiting times for dental treatment – very much a national problem.
Davies admitted that she had perhaps arrived "a bit early".
But, for her, it was all worth it, after being told by other practices that she faced a year wait to be seen.
Davies, who last managed to get an NHS dentist appointment eight years ago, continued: "I just wanted to make sure I could be seen, as I'd seen online there had been huge queues previously when they've done things like this...
"I think it's great you can come in person and sign up, I think it should be like that."
She added it had been "a bit ridiculous" having to wait so long for an appointment.
When Bhandari arrived at work this morning, she said she "didn't expect" such a long queue to have formed as the surgery had not advertised the spaces much.
She explained that efforts by the NHS Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board had allowed the practice to accept more patients.
She said it was "good news that the NHS is changing and something is happening" – and that accepting so many new patients was "amazing".
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